Re: population and stratification

Paul-

I'm familiar with the distinction between simple horticulture and
"big-man" systems, where the Big Man redistributes everything, and thus
does not amass anything other than prestige -- no power -- and larger,
more complex horticultural systems which give rise to chiefdoms, power and
exploitation, along with the first "armed bodies of men" to enforce the
power.

But according to Sanderson, a key step in that fateful transition is a
growing scarcity of land.  It's only with population pressure, in other
words (as all these theorists use the term anyway), that it becomes
possible for chiefs to arise *employing and exploiting* others who no
longer have control of their own land.

Richard